The Power of Word Choice in Influencer Marketing

The Wharton School has seen some incredible MBA students in its time – but perhaps few as visible as Alexis Barber.

Barber, 26, is a Wharton MBA student whose Too Smart for This podcast and Too Collective lifestyle brand have helped to catapult her into micro-influencer status on social media in the past five years (10,000 to 100,00 followers). Most recently, she logged more than 118,000 followers on TikTok alone.

Be Consistent, Be Yourself

Since she posted her first video at age 21, she has used TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and beyond to generate more than half a million dollars in brand deals with some 70 brands. She’s published a book, built a six-figure product business (plush robes), held jobs at Google and YouTube, and collaborated with high-profile companies, including Bumble and Rare Beauty. According to Barber’s LinkedIn profile, she has experienced all sides of the creator economy as a “platform/corporate strategist, brand owner, marketer, and influencer.”

Barber has, by her own admission, scaled back on her workload to focus on her academics. Wharton Global Youth hopes to catch up with her soon for an interview. Until then, her content creation provides rich insight into personal branding and influencer marketing, where different brands work with people like Barber with a strong social media presence to promote their products or services.

So, we wondered: what has helped Barber stand out as an influencer who will appeal to brands, as well as build interest in brands?

“It’s about authenticity,” Barber stressed during an interview on the Side Hustle Pro podcast. “I think what makes people stand out is consistency and being themselves. The only thing that really will pop off is when you bring something new to the table. And usually, it’s just you and being yourself. If you’re too afraid to do that, you’ll stay stagnant.” Brands, she has said, typically seek influencers who have a strong, authentic relationship with their audience and can deliver content that aligns with the brand’s values and objectives.

The Influencer Movement

According to Sprout Social, in 2024 global spending on influencer marketing was estimated at $24 billion, up from $21.1 billion in 2023. While this market has been around for a while, it is always evolving – in part due to intrepid influencers like Alexis Barber, as well as academic research from marketing experts like Wharton’s Jonah Berger, who help guide and inform decision making and best practices for the business of marketing.

Professor Berger has watched and studied the evolution of word-of-mouth marketing – from telling a friend about your favorite shampoo, to social media influencer dominance. “In the early 2010s, people were starting to realize that word of mouth is much more impactful than traditional advertising (selling products on TV and radio). We trust it much more because it feels like it comes from a peer rather than a company and it can be much more targeted,” said Professor Berger during a recent Knowledge@Wharton podcast. “Companies and organizations have spent the last decade and a half thinking, ‘Well, word of mouth is really valuable. How do we get it?’ Companies who were used to that traditional advertising model said, ‘I’m used to buying attention for my stuff. Is there a way to do that?’ That started the influencer movement. It’s in some sense a new type of paid media…Now I pay an “influencer,” an online individual who has some sort of following, to talk about my product, my service and share my message.”

Influencer marketing has its share of supporters and skeptics, making it ripe for research from professors like Dr. Berger, who seek to put evidence and data behind what can often be a very experiential approach to brand development. Specifically, Berger explores how ideas, products, and behaviors spread, examining why certain content goes viral and how social dynamics shape decision-making.

Juicy Research

In recent research, Berger concluded that paying attention to the use of sensory words can help social media influencers increase engagement. While advertisers have used images to convey sensory appeal, like a plump burger on a bun for example, not much research has gone into effective word choices for products. “Some words relate to our senses more than others,” he noted. “Sensory words really touch on our senses in some way shape or form. Rather than putting peanut butter on bread, I could spread it on that bread…steak could be really good, or it could be really juicy. Those latter words speak more to a sense of taste, smell, or touch…and relate to sensory experience.”

During the research process, Berger and his colleagues dug into the language that influencers use on social media. They studied a large data set of hundreds of different influencers posting thousands of pieces of content across multiple different platforms and, controlling for different factors like number of followers and brands they were working with, studied whether sensory words had a bigger impact. “In a variety of different domains, we found that using sensory language rather than this other type of language had an impact,” noted Berger. “In TikTok, for example, just one additional sensory word in a video was associated with 11,000 additional likes and comments.”

As a professor of consumer behavior, Berger was curious about why sensory language had such appeal, which he and his co-author Giovanni Luca Cascio Rizzo also studied. “What Luca pointed out is that influencers have a big challenge,” said Berger. “They’re talking about all these products and services, but people don’t know whether to trust them or not. Even if you say something is good or it’s great, lots of people say those things. How do I know whether I can trust you or not?…Using sensory language suggests direct experience and suggests that someone actually tried that product or service they’re talking about. And because of that, it makes the speaker seem more authentic.”

Thus, bringing us full circle with Alexis Barber’s message about the importance of authenticity for influencers. Is finding that authenticity easy? It’s a big source of struggle, Barber admits. But in the end, she stresses, “the secret weapon is you,” whether you’re promoting a company’s brand or your own.

Click here to listen to the full interview.

Conversation Starters

What is influencer marketing and how did this movement start?

What is sensory language and why is it fundamental to successful influencer marketing?

Are you an influencer on social media? Share your story in the comment section of this article!

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